Rift
by HannaZamara
Summary: Emma Dayley thinks she has found true love with her best friend, Mark, right up until the second that he chooses Dauntless at the Choosing Ceremony instead of Amity like they planned. She can't figure out why but resolves to move on, that is until Mark reveals a secret that changes everything.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"Give it up, Em, I'm not going to tell you."

I glare at Mark and pluck a leaf off of the branch above us, shredding it apart into strips of green. For a moment silence stretches between us, punctured by Jacob Brown playing the guitar at the nearest campfire. Tonight dozens of the other members of Amity are gathered around the campfires on the edge of the fields, talking and laughing and playing music. Mark and I wandered off about a half hour ago to sit on one of the trees that overlook the obsidian black lake. I've been trying to cajole him into revealing the results of his aptitude test, but he so far he's refused.

"Why not?" I complain.

Mark sighs and runs both hands through his hair, but still manages a teasing smile.

"It's against the rules and you know it."

I swing my leg over the edge of the branch so that I'm turned toward him. Ever since the aptitude test this morning he's been… different, I guess. Ever few seconds I catch him staring off into the darkness, his eyebrows furrowed like they always get when he's lost in thought. I've known Mark since we were toddlers playing in the shade of the trees while our parents worked in the fields, but it wasn't until a year ago that we fell in love. Well, Mark claims he's always known there was something special about me, but given his former tendency to put bugs in my food and steal my hair ribbons, I highly doubt that. Still, we've talked about staying in Amity, getting married after initiation and living as farmers. I'm sure he wouldn't change his mind, but I still have to ask,

"Is it against the rules for you to tell me what you're going to choose?"

He looks at me for a long moment, his eyes soft. I don't look away. He leans over and kisses my forehead, and when he pulls away there's a sadness in his eyes that scares me a little.

"I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, Em. Just-"

"Emma!" someone calls from a nearby bonfire. I recognize Mama's voice and sigh.

"I have to go," I tell Mark, reaching up to adjust the cloth headband that I always use to keep my reddish hair out of my eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asks, raising one eyebrow. "You could pretend you didn't hear."

"Mark Arbor," I scold, "It isn't kind to ignore someone who might need your help."

"Fine then," he says, "I guess I'll just have to give this to Kitty instead."

I pause and look at him.

"Give what to Kitty?" I ask, narrowing my eyes.

One corner of his mouth curls upward in a mischievous smile. He pulls something out of his pocket and holds it out to me. The gold locket winks in the starlight. I gasp.

"Where did you get that?"

"It was Mom's," he says, looking down for a second before glancing back up, struggling to keep smiling. "I want you to have it."

Mark's mom died six months ago from a rare form of cancer, one of the three only kinds that the Erudite haven't eradicated yet. Mark is alright now, but it took him months to stop grieving.

"No," I say, "I can't take this. It must be so special to you."

"Which is exactly why I want you to have it," he insists, then adds in a mockingly high voice, "It isn't kind to refuse gifts. One should receive them gratefully and graciously."

I can't resist reaching out to run a finger over the image of a flower imprinted on its surface.

"It's beautiful," I say.

"Here," he says, "try it on."

I turn around and hold my hair out of the way while he clasps it around my neck.

"Perfect," he says. "You have to keep it now."

I roll my eyes but don't argue anymore.

"Fine, I will." Mama calls again and I squeeze his hand. "Thank you. See you tomorrow?"

"Sure, but if you're just going to abandon me like this, I'm going to go find Kitty."

"Don't you dare," I laugh, and hop out of the tree.

I run off across the field to find Mama, who talks me into helping her hand out mugs of hot chocolate to the other Amity gathered around the campfires. The sounds of their easy laughter and same old stories are as familiar as the fields that stretch out around us. I can't imagine ever leaving this faction, and the people who are more like my family than just my neighbors. Knowing Mark, I don't think he can either.

The Choosing Ceremony is about to begin. I stand in line with the other sixteen year olds about to make their choice, shivering in my thin red tank top and wrap-around skirt. The room is colder than I expected, and I wish I had brought a jacket. The Candor girl next to me is biting her fingernails, which are already worn down to the nailbed. I smile at her reassuringly.

"Don't be nervous," I say, "It'll be over before you know it."

"Sure," she says, and looks away.

I shrug and lean over to try to catch Mark's eye. He is further down in the line and doesn't look my way. He's focusing on the five metal bowls in the center of the room, his jaw flexed. Worry races through me but I push it down. What do I have to worry about?

This year it's Candor's turn to run the Choosing Ceremony, and their leader, Jack Kang, stands in front of us, in between the line of soon-to-be initiates and the five bowls. He tells the story of how the factions came to be and outlines the importance of each one, which I've heard a hundred times. Instead of paying attention I eye the knife awaiting us. The blade looks cruelly sharp. Of course we can't just announce our choice instead of cutting ourselves open.

Kang finishes his speech and the first girl steps up, an Erudite girl who chooses to remain in her faction. She joins the rows of clapping Erudite in their section, and the next boy follows. Each new initiate only takes about a minute to choose, but my legs are aching by the time that my turn arrives. I walk to the front of the room, determined not to step on my long skirt, and pick up the knife. I grit my teeth before drawing its edge across my palm. Dark blood wells up from the shallow cut. The entire room watches as I hold my hand over the Amity earth, and my blood stains the dirt. They cheer and clap as I take my seat among them beside Olivia, a friend of mine who has already chosen to stay as well. We share a smile before turning to watch the rest of the ceremony.

Ten minutes later, Mark walk up to the front. Right away I can tell something is wrong. He shuffles across the room, his shoulder hunched. His normally teasing eyes are as solemn as if he's attending a funeral. My stomach clenches with nerves. He takes his place behind the row of bowls. The knife leaves a long, thin line of red across his palm. He looks up at me before the blood falls. My breath catches in my throat. His eyes look almost luminescent in the bright lighting, and I can read the message inside them: I'm sorry. I squeeze the locket in one hand until the raised design imprints itself in my palm, watching his hand hover over the bowl of earth. At the last second, he jerks to the right. His blood falls on pulsing Dauntless coals. I freeze, unable to believe what I'm seeing. Time seems to slow down and sounds fade away as I watch him set the knife down and walk across the floor past me in the Amity section, past the rows of Abnegation with their somber expressions and grey clothes, and stop in front of the rows of erupting Dauntless. A man with a thick silver ring in his nose claps him on the back and motions toward an empty seat. _No_ , I want to scream. _No!_

Mark sits down and the world snaps back into focus. I am aware of the eyes of the rest of Amity on me, bursting with questions. Everyone in Amity knew that Mark and I wanted to get married after initiation. Now they all just watched him leave. I bite my lip until it stings, ordering myself to stay calm, to save the confusion and fear and tears for later. The urge to run presses in on me, but I refuse to show how hurt I am. I sit with my back straight and a careless Amity smile pasted on my face, refusing to look at Mark or the Dauntless.

All I can think is that there has to be an explanation. There has to be.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The sun beats down on my head like a load of hot bricks, and the dirt beneath my bare feet is rough and almost painful, the tiny pebbles leaving a pattern of red marks on my skin. I stand up and dust off my shorts. The miles of corn around me wave in the gentle breeze, which is enough to rattle the leaves but not enough to make a difference in the incessant heat. I can hear the murmur of conversation and trill of laughter from the other workers making their way down the long rows of corn and pulling out the weeds, but they are barely visible through the thick green stalks. Since yesterday, everyone I know has asked in some way or another if I knew that Mark was planning to change factions. So far I've made a mess of it every time, stammering something about how I didn't really know but I'm sure he didn't mean to leave me and he'll explain himself at the next visiting day, which I am well aware is two weeks away but I'm sure I'll be fine if everyone would stop asking me about it so please go away. I never actually say the last part out loud, but I want to. Of course everyone is just asking me out of kindness, but sometimes even the most well meant sympathy can be stifling enough to suffocate anyone.

"Emma!"

Olivia's voice yanks me out of my thoughts but I pretend not to hear, instead bending down to focus on a spiky leafed weed. I feel ashamed of my unkindness, but I need to be alone and I'm hoping she'll go away. When she calls again, I have to turn and smile.

"Hello, Olivia," I say.

She kneels down beside me and starts plucking weeds from between the rows of corn.

"Are you doing alright?" she asks.

I sigh and brush the damp strands of hair away from my face. If there's anyone I can be honest with, it's Olivia. Besides Mark, she is one of my closest friends.

"Not really. I had no idea he was going to decide to change factions like that. I mean, I guess he tried to warn me, but I wasn't paying attention."

She pats my shoulder.

"I'm sorry. Maybe he'll explain himself at next visiting day?"

I try to yank a weed out of the hard ground. The top snaps off, leaving the roots buried beneath the surface.

"I hope so."

For a moment, I wish I had been born into Candor. If I were one of them, I would find him and demand that he tell me why he would do something like this. But I've always been Amity and I always will be, and we aren't good with confrontation.

"Don't worry," Amy consoles, "visiting day will be here before you know it."

It's meant to be comforting, but the idea of leaving the safety of Amity to try to find the Dauntless compound- the location of which no one seems to know- to locate Mark in the chaos of Dauntless and demand an explanation is terrying.

"I don't even know where the Dauntless compound is," I counter, brushing my sticky hair out of my eyes.

Olivia shrugs as yanks on a tough weed.

"Neither do I, but I bet Kindra could tell you."

"The Transfer?" I ask, and she nods.

Kindra is the only Dauntless anyone has ever heard of to transfer to Amity. Even more surprising is how well she fits in- if I didn't know she was born in Dauntless, I would assume she had lived here all her life.

"She lives on the edge of the apple orchard, right?" I ask.

"Yeah. You should go find her after work hour is done."

We pull weeds for the rest of the day until the sunlight starts to fade and the bell that signals the end of the work day sounds. I stand up and readjust the cloth holding my hair back. Olivia gives me a quick hug goodbye and moves off to join another group of girls. I head for the apple orchard, which is on the other side of the cornfield. The rough leaves scratch my arms and bare legs as I move through the field. By the time I arrive at the edge of the apple orchard, my arms are red and irritated and the sounds of laughter and conversation waft over from where the rest of Amity are heading back to their homes for an hour with their families and neighbors before supper. Kindra's house is small for an Amity house since she isn't married and her family is back in Dauntless.

I knock on the door, which is painted a pretty white. Soft footsteps pad across the floor inside and a second later she opens the door. Despite her Dauntless roots, Kindra looks exactly like any other Amity, with her yellow skirt, loose red shirt, and bare feet.

"Hello there," she says with a warm smile. "How can I help you?"

"My name is Emma," I say. "I need your help."

Her eyebrows raise dubiously, but she moves aside, inviting me into her house. I step inside and look around. It's bright, simple and imaginative in the typical Amity way, with wooden furniture and lemon yellow walls adorned by watercolor paintings.

"Please," Kindra says, "sit. What can I help you with?"

I sink into a wooden chair at the table and lean forward.

"I need your help finding the Dauntless Compound."

She turns around to pick up a cup of tea off the counter and I notice a tattoo between her shoulders. The edges of a tree with flames consuming its branches are visible from behind the back of her tanktop, the only visible remnant of her life in Dauntless. She turns back to face me, her fingers wrapped around the ceramic cup.

"Why do you need to find Dauntless?"

"My… boyfriend transferred there," I start, already hating the way the words make me seem like a lovesick preteen. "He didn't explain himself or anything. I just need to find him, and figure out what changed."

I look up, expecting to see her smirking or at least suppressing a sympathetic but amused smile, but her eyes are serious and calculating.

"Tell me, Emma, was your boyfriend…"

"Mark."

"...Mark, acting strange after the aptitude test? Nervous maybe?"

I think back, twisting my hands in my lap.

"I suppose he kind of was."

"Did it seem to you like he could have fit in with Amity? Any indication that he could have been better suited for Dauntless?"

I shake my head, but then pause.

"I mean, once, when he was eight, he got in a fight with another boy."

"Why?"

I smile at the memory, although I know his actions broke every rule the Amity live by.

"The boy was teasing me about my hair and stole my doll. Mark fought him to get it back."

"A very Dauntless thing to do." Kindra stares off into the distance for a few seconds, lost in thought, before snapping back to the present. "Visiting day is in two weeks, correct?"

"Right."

"Meet me here in the morning, after breakfast. I'll take you there."

I stare at her. I had been prepared to get down on my knees and beg for her help, and definitely wasn't expecting her to consent without any convincing. Maybe it had something to do with the questions she was asking. Why would she care if Mark was nervous after his test, or if he had Dauntless tendencies? I want to ask, but if she wanted me to know her motives she would have told me, and it disturbs the peace to pry into other people's lives. So, instead of interrogating her, I thank her and leave her house to head back toward the cluster of houses where my family lives. Instead of going in, I sit on the porch and look up at the stars, lost in thought.

My plea to Kindra had sounded so pathetic, a fit of puppy love steeped in betrayal. But Mark is so much more than just a boyfriend. He's been my best friend since we grew up in neighboring houses, running through the fields and playing in the creek while our parents worked. Mark always stood up for me, even for little things like teasing about my constantly disheveled hair and dusty clothes that I never took the time to wash- I was always too busy on a new adventure with Mark to worry about how I looked, and that earned me a lot of jeers at school. But what did it matter? I had Mark. It wasn't until a year ago, when I was almost sixteen, that I realized that I was in love with him, and even better, he felt the same about me. After that, nothing really changed at all, except now we had a name for what we were. We had talked so many times about what we wanted for our lives, and we never really had the exact same opinion (living closer to the creek or to the dome was a popular argument) but the future we planned always had one thing in common: us, together. And then in one moment, it all fell apart, and I was left behind. Maybe I can't change that, but at least I can find out why.

When Kindra said she'd lead me to the Dauntless compound, the last thing I was expecting was find myself thirty minutes later on top of a ten story building, waiting for … something.

"What exactly are we waiting for again?" I ask Kindra, adjusting the beaded bracelet pressing into my skin.

Kindra juts her chin at a speck approaching us from far away.

"That," she says.

A train whistle blares in the distance.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

I'm terrified. So terrified that my entire body is shaking. Watching the train coming at us at a paralyzing speed turns my blood to ice, freezing me in place. The train roars closer and closer as the panic claws at my ribcage.

"I can't do this." My stomach flips with vertigo.

Kindra looks at me, as if she's actually surprised that I'm not particularly inclined to jump off a ten story building.

"Emma, this is the only way to Dauntless. If you want to see your boyfriend again, we have to get on this train."

"We can't walk?"

Kindra shakes her head.

"Visiting Day would be over by the time we got there."

"What about a bus?"

"Buses don't go to Dauntless. If there was another way, I wouldn't bring you here, but there isn't."

I peer over the edge of the building. The ground that is so far below that it makes my head swim, the trees just green blurs ten floors down. I imagine my feet slipping on the edge of the building, losing my grip on the world and falling through the air until I hit the Earth and my bones snap. I might not just get hurt, I could _die_. One false step and my life could be over.

I look over at Kindra. She is watching the train loom closer and closer, her eyes sharp and muscles tense. The Amity warmth and peaceful happiness she usually exudes are fading, replaced with a more serious and calculating look. I can almost see the Dauntless she used to be. I have to trust her if I want to see Mark again and figure out what happened. I take a deep breath.

"Fine."

The first few cars of the train fly by. Kindra yells over the wind and metallic screech of the train,

"Follow me and do what I do."

She runs toward the train and I stay right behind her, the wind beating on my face. The wheels scream on the iron tracks. Kindra grabs the iron bar on the side of a car and swings herself into the open door. Adrenaline hums through my veins, making my head feel light. I grab the bar and try to swing myself into the car, but my hold slips on the slick metal. I fall back, but manage to cling to the bar. By now the train has passed the building and is descending on its tracks. My feet dangle in empty air, desperation pumping through me. I swing myself as hard as I can and my feet land inside the car. For one second I am safe inside before the momentum carries my backward and I loose my balance. Kindra snatches my wrist just before I fall and yanks me inside. I tumble to the floor, covered in sweat and trembling so hard that I get back up. The train feels like it's shaking back and forth like a building in an earthquake.

"That was close." Kindra blows a strand of the hair away from her eyes.

I can't speak. My mouth is as dry as my mother's chicken, and the words won't form. I concentrate on breathing and calming down. Five minutes later I lick my lips and sit up.

"Are you alright?" Kindra asks.

"I'm fine."

She shakes her head.

"You have to be more careful. You're not safely tucked in Amity anymore."

No kidding. I sit with my back against the wall and pull my hair into a tail. Wind whistles through the car and back out the door. My skin feels cold and numb. Kindra stands by the open door, her hand on the iron bar, watching the city fly by.

"So," she says, "you really think this boy loves you?"

I pull my knees to my chest and rest my forearms on them.

"I think he does, or at least he did. I mean, we always planned to get married when we were older. He always seemed like he would fit into Amity just fine."

Kindra's forehead wrinkles, her gaze still locked on the blurred world outside. She doesn't respond, seeming to be lost in thought. We ride in silence for what seems like an eternity. We had to walk for nearly two hours to get to that building on the edge of the city, and since we didn't leave until mid morning because Mom wanted me to go to a prayer service with the rest of the family, by now it's afternoon.

Thirty minutes later, Kindra motions for me to stand up.

"We're almost there," she says. "Get ready."

I get up and step over to the edge. By now the train has reached the ground and we're speeding toward a gated, one story building. The train slows a little by the gate and we jump. I hit the ground on my side. Kindra helps me up and we join the crowd of people walking through the gates, dozens of Erudite and Candor and a handful of Abnegation. We are the only Amity, and I suddenly feel as obvious as a patch of roses in a field of snow in my bright yellow shirt and red leggings, the only trace of color aside from the Erudite's blue clothing.

We go through huge, heavy looking doors and find ourselves somewhere that is more like a huge cavern than a room. The ceiling arches over us, made of concrete and steel beams. We're standing on an overlook with only a small metal barrier separating us from a very long fall. I walk over to the barrier and lean over it to look down. The sight sends dizziness spinning through me. The overlook appears to have been carved into the side of a huge cavern whose floor is four stories below us. Stairs wrap around the sides of the cavern already down to the bottom. On the floor of the cavern, a sea of blue, black, white, and grey merge together as families are reunited for the first time since the Choosing Ceremony. The other visitors begin to make their way down the stairs. Kindra nudges me and starts to follow, and I have no choice but to begin the long walk down. It is only then that I notice that there are no railings on the stairs to prevent a reckless soul from plummeting all the way to the bottom. It must be an awfully miserable life for Dauntless with a fear of heights.

But then I realize that was a stupid thought. Dauntless aren't allowed to be afraid of anything.

We arrive at the bottom of the stairs and I lean up on my tiptoes to try to see over the crowd. Kindra taps my shoulder.

"I'm going to go see someone," she says, "I'll be back here by the end of Visiting Day, alright?"

I bite my lip, a little worried about losing my guide, but then realize how awkward it would be for Kindra to stand there while I talk with the boy who left me. So I nod, and she melts into the crowd. I keep searching, moving through the mass of people as best as I can and keeping an eye out for laughing blue eyes and dark hair. But there's no sign of him, even after I've been searching for about a half hour. Worry is starting to gnaw at me when I stop by a tattoo parlor to look around and see a flash of dark hair on the second level. For one moment, Mark is there, laughing with another boy with hair streaked blue, and a heartbeat later the two of them disappear into a clothing store. I fight my way through the crowd, pulse racing. A Candor man already embroiled in a debate with his newly Dauntless son waves his arms as he yells about Dauntless idiocy and accidentally hits me in the shoulder. I stumble into an Erudite woman who gives me an annoyed look and returns to making small talk her daughter. I mumble an apology and jog up the stairs. When I duck into the store, an employee with strange earrings that stretch his earlobes steps in my way.

"Visitors stay at the bottom of the Pit, Miss," he says.

"I'm sorry," I splutter, "but a boy came in here and I need to see him."

He shakes his head.

"If he wants to see you, he'll come down to the Pit, now clear out."

I'm embarrassed to feel tears well in my eyes. He's so close.

"Please," I plead, my fingers wrapped around my locket so tightly that they throb.

"Emma?"

I look up and over the employee's shoulder. Mark steps out from behind a rack of black sweatshirts. The other boy is holding a shirt up to his chest and admiring himself in the mirror, but Mark faces us, his expression a shadow.

"Mark!"

I launch myself past the employee and wrap my arms around him.

"I'm so glad I found you," I say, pulling away.

His expression is as blank as a whitewashed wall. I freeze and take a step back.

"What are you doing here, Em?" he asks, like I'm a stranger.

"I came to find you," I say. The image on the locket is probably carved into my palm by now. "You… you never said goodbye."

"I transferred," Mark snaps. "Why couldn't you just leave it at that? Why do you have to make everything so hard?"

I take a step back, my eyes wide. Mark has never talked to me like that. Ever.

"Dude," Blue Hair says, "check this out." He holds up a pair of black combat boots. "You should try these."

Mark doesn't look at him. His eyes are hard with annoyance and anger, but behind that, I recognize the tiniest glint of something that Dauntless aren't supposed to have: fear.

"I'm sorry, Em," he says. "I just wish you had left it alone."

"Why?" I demand. Anger flares inside of me. As an Amity girl, I have trained myself to channel away anger, to dismiss hurt in favor of peace and forgiveness without waiting for apology. But for the first time, I don't quell the feeling. Instead I let determination solidify inside me. I will get answers. "You never told me anything. After all those promises and plans, you were the one who just left with no explanation. I deserve more than that, Mark."

Mark clenches his jaw, and I expect him to walk out or refuse to explain himself, but instead he turns to the other boy.

"I'll catch you later, Ethan."

Ethan glares at me in annoyance.

"Dude," he says to Mark, "we have to train before tomorrow. You seriously need to work on your punches."

"I'll be there," Mark says.

Ethan looks like he wants to argue, but the edge in Mark's voice stops him. With a parting glare at me, he shuffles away.

I cross my arms.

"So?"

"I-" Mark looks around, like he's worried that someone is watching us, even though the store is empty. He runs his hands through his hair. "We can't talk here."

"Where then?"

He rubs the back of his neck, thinking.

"The Pit," he says. "If we sit on the edge and keep our voices down, no one will hear us, and the camera's won't be able to pick up what we're saying through the noise."

Worry prickles through me. What can Mark possibly have to say that he wouldn't want anyone to know? Even if he didn't get Dauntless on his Aptitude test, there is no rule against choosing a faction without an aptitude for it.

"Let's go," Mark says.

We walk back down the stairs and weave through the mass of visitors and initiates. There is the smallest open space by the wall and we slide down to sit with our backs against it and our knees bent. I wrap my arms around my knees and try to calm down.

Mark leans in to whisper so quietly that I almost can't hear him over the din.

"Emma, I have two results for my Aptitude test. I didn't fit into just Amity, or just Dauntless. I have an Aptitude for both."

I pull away and stare at him.

"What?"

"Shh," he hisses. "It's true, I swear."

"But that- that's not possible."

"That's what everyone says, but the woman who administered my test said it's not. Other people have gotten two results, but you never hear about them. The woman- her name is Tori- said there was another girl who had inconclusive results that day- Beatrice Prior. Do you know her?"

I shake my head.

"Well Tori said that it's called Divergent. The city leaders are hunting us. We don't fit into their categories, so they don't want us messing up the factions. If they find me, they'll kill me."

My heart almost stops. I squeeze my locket so hard that my fingers hurt.

"No," I whisper.

"Beatrice chose Dauntless," Marks says. "I was hoping that if I chose Dauntless I could find her and she could help me, but now that I'm here I realized it won't do any good." His jaw tightens and he won't meet my eyes. "Someday- it might be tomorrow, it might be in twenty years- they're going to find me, and… and they're going to kill me." He tilts his head back against the wall, like the weight pressing down on him is so heavy that he can't hold his head up. "I didn't want you to know. It's too dangerous. If you would have just accepted that I was gone and moved on, you would never have been in danger like this."

I can't speak. What can I say? I'd expected his reasons to sting- that he changed his mind about us, or that he got Dauntless on his Aptitude Test and didn't think he could fit in Amity after all, or that he never really loved me and it was all a lie- but the truth is so much worse than I imagined. I take a trembling breath.

"They might not," I offer. "If you stay hidden, if you don't act anything like Amity…"

"I wish I could believe that, but we both know it's not true. I can't hide forever."

Neither of us says anything for a long minute, and when Mark speaks again, his voice is so quiet that I have to lean in to hear him.

"Unless I hide where they'll never find me, where no one would think to look."

"Where?" I ask.

"Factionless."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"Are you insane?" Even though no one is paying attention to us, I still try to keep my voice down. "Why in the name of all things would you think of going to Factionless? Everyone knows how dangerous and run down it is there."

"Yeah, yeah, that's what everyone says.."

"They live in broken down old buildings and eat whatever they can find in garbage cans-"

"I know, Emma."

"There are criminals there Mark! You could get hurt."

"Yeah, Em, I know."

"And who knows what kind of diseases could be going around down there! For all we know you could get infected with flesh eating bacteria and-"

"Em!" Mark says, throwing his hands up in the air. "I know! I know that I'll probably be starving and living in a dump and swimming in disease, but it's better than being dead."

I shut my mouth and sit back. My hands unclench. I shouldn't have been yelling like that. The Amity don't argue and they definitely don't interrupt and criticize. Then again, this is not a situation that happens every day.

"What about me?" I whisper. "I'll never see you again."

"Don't you think I know that?" Mark meets my eyes for one heartbeat, and in that instant I can see all the anguish and worry and guilt built up inside him. His hands ball into fists in his lap. "I wanted you to just leave it alone and move on. It would have been easier for the both of us, but you just had to come after me."

"Of course I did." I notice my hands are trembling, but only vaguely, like it's a detail as inconsequential as the spiderweb of thin cracks on the wall behind us. "I love you."

Mark reaches out and takes my hand.

"I love you too," he says. "Which is why I have to leave."

I yank my hand away away and stare at him.

"How can you say that? How can you be okay with never seeing me again?"

"Don't you get it?" Mark clenches his jaw, his eyes a thunderstorm. "If I stay, they'll find out that I'm Divergent and throw me into the chasm, and if you keep seeing me they might kill you too."

"Why would they kill me?"

"Look at you!" Mark almost yells. "You're Amity, and you're supposed to be out singing campfire songs on the edge of those cute little houses. Not Amity girl would jump off of a building to get on a moving train so she could come here, and no Amity girl would argue like this."

I freeze, pressing a fist against my mouth. Realization pricks at the edge of my mind. I think of all the tiny seeds of rebellion, the bickering my Mother always chastised me for, all the times I've wondering if I'm just a little too headstrong, a little too independent, a little too opinionated. But I fit into Amity so well. It's my life, it's my world. I can't believe that I'm not meant to be a part of it.

"There's no way I could be Divergent," I breathe, gripping my locket like it can tether me to a world where everything makes sense. "I'm Amity."

Mark massages his temple with two fingers.

"I'm not so sure. But this way, I can disappear into Factionless and you can blend into Amity, and neither one of us will get hurt." He reaches out to take my hand, and this time I don't pull away. "It's better this way."

He scoots closer and I rest my head on his shoulder, fighting an onslaught of tears. I will not cry, not matter how scared and confused I feel. I keep my eyes shut tight until the tears have retreated a little and I can blink the rest of them away.

"Hey," I say, sitting up, "we still have one day left." I smile as widely as I can, but I have to force it. "What's there to do in this place?"

Mark laughs and squeezes my hand.

"Just wait until you've tried their chocolate cake."

The rest of the day goes by way too fast. Mark sneaks me out of the Pit and to the Dauntless cafeteria. We emerge with two plates of chocolate cake and Mark leads me to a place he calls "The Chasm." When we get there, I lean over the metal railing to look at the water far below. A river slices its way through the cavern, churning over rocks and throw itself against its banks. Mark sits down with his legs threaded through the bars and dangling over the edge. I slide down to join him. To a Dauntless who jumps off buildings for fun, it would seem as safe and mundane as walking a grandmother to breakfast, but I've spent most of my lift in the Amity fields. Sitting here, with my face pressed against the cold barrier and the spray from the river beading on my feet, I wonder if Dauntless would be so bad.

Mark and I seem to have an unspoken agreement not to talk about his leaving, but we can only avoid the topic until we finally have to acknowledge that Visiting Day is over, and Kindra is probably waiting rather impatiently for me back in the Pit. Mark helps me up and throws our paper plates into the trash can.

"Well…" he says.

I press my lips together, determined not to cry. I will not cry. The river thunders behind us, pounding at the walls.

"I guess this is it," I say, crossing my arms. "Be careful, Mark."

"I will."

He steps forward and kisses me one last time. I wrap my arms around his neck and wish that I could hold on forever. But I have to pull away. I have to let him go.

"I love you," Mark says.

"I love you too."

He pauses for one second to brush away the only tear that managed to escape before turning around and walking away. I watch him go, leaning back to grip the railing with numb fingers. He turns a corner, and disappears.

I stand by the edge of the boxcar, staring out at the city as it flies by. I've managed not to cry so far, even though I've had to bite my tongue until it stings to keep the tears at bay. The wind howls outside the boxcar, screaming along the tracks and snatching my hair with cold fingers.

Kindra is the first one to break the silence.

"What did he say?" she asks.

I shouldn't tell her. She could tell the Dauntless, or the Abnegation leaders, or whoever is hunting down the Divergent. I've never been good at lying but decide to give it a try.

"He changed his mind when he found out he had an aptitude for Dauntless." It's not hard to fake the loss in my voice. "He decided to leave."

Kindra doesn't answer. When I turn around, she's standing up and leaning against the wall, her analytical eyes sweeping over me.

"That's not the truth, is it?"

I swallow, trying to keep my eyes wide and innocent.

"Of course it is."

"No it's not." She pauses, tapping her fingers on her chin. "He's Divergent, isn't he?"

I stare at her, fishing for a lie but coming up with nothing. The train hits a bump and I have to grab the handle on the wall for balance.

"You can tell me the truth," she says, "because…" She inhales, almost nervous. "I am too."

"What?"

I blurt out the word before I can bite it back. She smiles.

"I'm very, very careful to hide it, but it's true. The Erudite want me dead just as much as Mark."

"Wait, Erudite?" Shivers creeps over my skin. "They're the ones killing Divergents?"

"Yes, with the help of Dauntless. They're the ones who will kill Mark if they find out."

"They won't find him," I assure her. "He's going to hide in Factionless."

She nods.

"Good. Did he tell you anything else?"

She watches me like she already knows the answer. The words sound strange when I say them out loud, and dangerous.

"Yes. He thinks I'm Divergent too." I pace back and forth, nervous energy flooding my body. "But I don't think so. Amity is my life, you know? Even if I am, I've blended into Amity all my life, and I'm sure I can keep on hiding. And he'll be fine in Factionless. Right?"

She looks away for the first time to stare at the dusty floor.

"I don't know. I'm beginning to think that none of us are safe anymore."


End file.
